Meaning I only realised about a week later. Not surprising really though that I forgot, given that September was so crazy with our wedding and my birthday. And team a crazy month with my inability to remember any kind of important date, birthday, anniversary, or any kind of figure or number really, including my current age (28) and my Mastercard pin (yeah, you’re not getting that one).

I was totally going to do some kind of special birthday post to commemorate the occasion too! Never mind. September 24th next year, House Nerd will be two! I’ll do a special birthday post then. You might need to remind me beforehand please.

POST-WEDDING

Now that our wedding is over, everyone is asking us, “How’s married life?” Married life is more relaxing than engaged life. We had the best day ever on our wedding day. But if you know how I feel about wedding planning, you might guess that we are pretty happy that the wedding planning is finally over! On Friday night we went to a lovely wedding in Kings Park and it was so relaxing to just be a guest at a wedding again (and be able to drink too much champagne without fear of horrifying Mr Nerd’s 90-year-old nanna).

I can’t wait to write a House Nerd wedding post once we get our professional pictures back. I’m kind of obsessed with looking at our wedding photos. I feel myself smiling just looking at them. Oh, and on the honeymoon front - we had a bit of a ‘honeymoon at home’ but won’t be officially honeymooning until next year we think, when we might go to Europe or Canada.

This morning a friend at coffee asked me if I was changing my surname. I will be, but I will be keeping Maya Anderson for work purposes, which is pretty standard for journalists. It would be nice to hyphenate it, like Zoe Foster did when she married Hamish Blake and made her name Zoe Foster-Blake but Maya Anderson-DeRoche is way too wordy! I would get an RSI from signing my name.

MEET ZAZU

One of my best friends recently asked if we would foster this little baby lorikeet that was dropped off at her vet clinic. He had fallen out of this nest and he was being attacked by a magpie.

I totally understand how the little idiot dropped out of his nest because he is clumsy and he can’t sit still for one second. He is always hopping about and running back and forth in excitement and dropping off the kitchen counter. Then he stands on the floor and yells until we come pick him up and put him back. But he is very sweet. He is still growing his feathers and he still needs to be fed with an eyedropper. Mr Nerd named him Zazu like the bird in The Lion King.

FRIEND OR SNACK? Yeah I'm not trusting Nala.

Zazu has made himself at home, and Nala, who normally hates birds and chases them out of the garden, loves to sit by his cage and coo at him. But I am too worried that Nala will one day change her mind about Zazu and chomp his head off, so Zazu will be going to a new home.

Mr Nerd makes me laugh when he does Zazu’s voice. (C’mon. Don’t tell me you don’t put on silly voices and pretend to be your pets talking? We mock Nala daily while she stares at us seething in anger).

When Mr Nerd does Zazu’s voice he gives him Mitch Hedberg’s idiolect and I double up laughing. “Can-you-hold-the-eyedropper-a-little-higher-please.” “Can-you-put-a-towel-on-the-table-for-me-cos-the-table-is-slippery.” Ok maybe it’s one of those ‘you have to be there’ things. Shut up.

The other night my friend texted me to ask how the bird was doing and I responded with this pic of Mr Nerd with Zazu on his head. She texted back. “Why is the burglar doing the dishes??” Fair enough.

Nerd update: Nerds since I wrote this post Zazu has been rehomed! We found him the most perfect home with this gorgeous teenage girl who was such a sweetheart. She was an animal lover and even did volunteer work looking after the birds at the local animal rescue clinic. I was sad to say bye to him but I know he is in the best hands and will be very loved. Thank you to those lovely people who read this post and wrote to me offering to home him. You made my day x

IF YA GETTIN’ DOWN

Mr Nerd is going to be embarrassed that I am telling you this, but yes, it is happening this month, and I am EXCITED about it. Yes, the man who was originally going to be my husband and Mr Nerd is coming to Perth. Yes, Scott James Tim Robinson, is coming to Perth and performing with the rest of Five. Woohooo!

Yeah I drew the loveheart on this one myself. Why are you surprised.

My sweet German friend Diana said politely, “Who is Five?” I could only blink at her. Who is Five?! Only one of the greatest boy bands of our time, Diana. Since I was 12 I have had a deep respect for small clans of all-singing, all-dancing pretty boys in oversized pants. I love cheesy boy bands. When the Backstreet Boys had their Perth concert last year Mr Nerd covered his face in his hands when he saw I was making a T-shirt so that Nick Carter would notice me. He didn’t, but it was dark where I was sitting.

I can’t wait to see Five and show them that I still know all the words. Even though J has since left the group so really they should be called Four and Abs now looks like another person entirely which scares me a little.

AND THEN IT IS HALLOWEEN!

A few days after Five and it is Halloween, and I really, really, really want 2013 to be the year that my sisters and I finally go to a party dressed as the Sanderson Sisters from Hocus Pocus, which is one of the greatest movies of all time. How cool are these guys.

A SNEAK PEEK AT OUR LATEST MAKEOVER PROJECT

As always the Crap Shack is in a period of change. Here’s a ‘before’ picture of our latest home renovation project – turning our creepy side garden (below) into a vegetable patch watered by our evaporative air-conditioning grey water. Full story to come. Trust me, it won't look this awful once it's all done!

HOUSE NERD CHANGES

And finally, now that the wedding is over and House Nerd has been going for a year, we are putting into motion some big changes for this little blog.

These changes will mean more time for me to write, which means more posts for you to read. Yay! I’d love to hear what you’d love to read about on House Nerd so please, always feel welcome to tell me any of your ideas. I love reading all your comments. Maya x

Happy 1 year blogversary! Im so glad I found your blog you are such a talented writer and I get to stalk other peoples homes via your home tours :) That lorikeet is adorable .... at least the burglar did the dishes lol

Firstly, happy first blog-iversary my friend!!! A fantastic milestone you should be very proud of. Your blog has become one of my firm favourites and I'm so glad to have found your corner of the interwebs when I did and that our paths crossed. As for Zazu, he is adorable as is the photo of Nala eyeing him off. What a cute temporary addition to your family. As for Five, I've got "If Ya Gettin Down" stuck in my head now :) Scott used to be my favourite too and I must say, I think he is still the best of the bunch seeing their most updated photo... eek!! Looking forward to all the changes that will be happening 'nerd-wise'... xx

Thank you!!! I am so glad you found my blog too :) Zazu was the cutest!! He just went to a new home with this gorgeous sweetheart teenage girl I found on Gumtree... was sad to see him go, but this girl was so lovey I knew he would be in good hands. God how different do Five look now?? He has definitely aged the best of the lot... but yes... like you, I was a bit unnerved! :) xx

Reply

Jen - Monday, October 14, 2013 at 7:16AM

Big congrats Maya! I've followed your blog since the very beginning and have loved reading every post. Looking forward to many more xo

HAPPY 1 YEAR HOUSE NERD!! Just a year and SO many wonderful stories to tell. I can't wait for the special 2nd birthday post already!
ps. BABY WHEN THE LIGHTS GO OUT! EVERY SINGLE WORD CANNOT EXPRESS, THE LOVE AND TENDERNESS ... though my favourite song had to be ... WHEN YOU'RE UP, OR WHEN YOU'RE DOWN BABY, TAKE A GOOD LOOK AROUND (complete with that whole back bend thing that they do in the music vid)

I KNOW IT'S NOT MUCH, BUT IT'S OK. KEEP ON MOVING ANYWAY. Dah I remember the awesome back bend thing. I also remember their You Got the Feeling poolside dance. Ahhh. Thank you for your wonderful and constant support of my blog! :) Really appreciate it :)

Joyeux Anniversaire, House Nerd! So many great stories already and I'm sure it is only going to get better and better! I'm looking forward to reading many more inspiring and fun posts! As for Five, I'm not going to comment. Or laugh. Really, that would be bad coming from me... All right, I'd better go, I have to have a look for the 263th times at my photo with Ricky Martin from this Saturday.... [sigh]

Thank you thank you! Yeah no laughing at my Five love, Mrs Future Martin. By the way, I was SO impressed you got the Ricky Martin meeting (again!) I need to hear this full story over coffee. I want a full rundown of your plan of attack and secrets for success.

Happy 1 year of blogging! :)
You know what, I think we've been blogging for the same amount of time, only I've totally slacked off while renovating our house and you have simply blogged about it :P
Here's a question for you - I can't wait to put up before & after photos of our house on my blog but when it comes to technical editing of photos I suck...how do you get your before and afters so nicely 'together'?

Thank you lovely Sarah!! Don't be too impressed though, I have slacked off a lot too! I have a list of posts to write the length of my arm, no, my leg, and the same goes for projects around our house (many unfinished. There is still masking tape around our half-painted skirting boards that I haven't yet yanked off - I procrastinate TERRIBLY when it comes to painting tasks). I am not very tech-savvy I have to admit, but what I have learned to do is brighten photos on Photoshop, and often I also up the contrast. They are like some of the only things I can do on Photoshop, but it makes the colours look a bit more nice and crisp. I also takes TONS of before photos (when I remember to) to maximise my chances of getting ones that are usable and that I can team up nicely with. If you don't have Photoshop I would also recommend editing photos on an iPhone. My favourite apps for photo editing are Camera+ and Afterlight. They are great for brightening pictures, adding a flash effect and enriching colours :)

Reply

kate - Monday, October 28, 2013 at 6:06PM

Happy (belated) birthday House Nerd. So thrilled to have been able to watch this amazing blog grow over the last 12-and-a-bit months. Here's to onwards and upwards! xx
Ps. Oh man! Which witch will you be? I always thought SJP was the epitome of gorgeous in that movie. Tom and I have some equally 90s costumes organised for this weekend!
Pps. Scott is mine. But how was it??

Dude, I still remember us sitting in the Vietnamese place and me telling you I thought I start blogging and you were like, "Yeah!! You should TOTALLY blog!" Without the support of you and people like you (I got soo many "HUh? Why do you want to do a blog?" comments) I would never have kept it up! Oh my god I totally thought SJP was the prettiest actress I ever saw too. Girl crush time. I would have totally been Bette Midler witch. Hello, she is the bossiest. But we are not going to do it this year! Bad Halloween planning :( Waaaah. Next year, next year, when we can do the Sanderson/Anderson sisters justice... I want to throw a Halloween party too... you HAVE to be back by then. Five concert is Wednesday!! Woohoo!!! P.P.P.S. Scott is mine. I haven't told him this yet. But when I see him on Wednesday I will.